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If Pujols goes to the Yanks' date=' he'll have to change position with Mark Teixeira, a Gold-Glove calibre 1st baseman at his position. He started his career playing 3rd, but A-Rod plays there. The other option would be right field, but that would mean Swisher would have to be the DH.

It's a complicated situation if he goes to the Yanks, but they do have the $$ like you said.

Let's not talk about the Sox missing the playoffs on the last day of the season. Thanks [/quote']

Yeah, the most likely option would be for Swisher to be the DH, and have Pujols in the outfield.

I'll not mention that, but I am chuffed that the Cards made the playoffs, after being 10.5 games behind in August!

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Yeah' date=' he would've probably left us and gone away, but now that we're in, he should stay

Who do you think will reach the World Series? I'm thinking the Phillies and the Yankees, but I'd like a Tigers vs Cardinals rematch of 2006 [/quote']

I am officially boycotting the postseason so I haven't even looked at the match-ups yet.

But, now that you ask, I'm going to say "Phillies v. Tigers." I think pitching will come out victorious this year. The Phillies have the likes of Halladay and Cliff Lee, while the Tigers have the most dominant pitcher in the league since Nolan Ryan in Justin Verlander.

I'd have to pick the Phillies to win it all though, since their hitting is better than the Tigers.

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I am officially boycotting the postseason so I haven't even looked at the match-ups yet.

But' date=' now that you ask, I'm going to say "Phillies v. Tigers." I think pitching will come out victorious this year. The Phillies have the likes of Halladay and Cliff Lee, while the Tigers have the most dominant pitcher in the league since Nolan Ryan in Justin Verlander.

I'd have to pick the Phillies to win it all though, since their hitting is better than the Tigers.[/quote']

Haha, I see

Yeah, the Phillies definitely have the best pitchers in the league, besides Verlander. That said, they are facing the Cards, who have proved themselves to be a team that can win games when it matters and have great hitters, not just Pujols either. The Tigers have Verlander and Valverde as great pitchers, and they also have Carbrera, who has to be one of the most feared hitters in the league. The Yankees will have the support, and then the likes of CC, A-Rod, Rivera, Cano, etc etc, and I can see them doing well (as usual!). The Astros could be the surprise package, maybe getting past the first round. And the Rays and Rangers probably won't go very far if I'm honest.

But for the winner, I'm in agreement with you, the Phillies are the best team there is at the moment (IMO), they have great hitting with the likes of Victorino, and of course fantastic pitching with Doc and Lee

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Yeah, the Phillies definitely have the best pitchers in the league, besides Verlander. That said, they are facing the Cards, who have proved themselves to be a team that can win games when it matters and have great hitters, not just Pujols either. The Tigers have Verlander and Valverde as great pitchers, and they also have Carbrera, who has to be one of the most feared hitters in the league. The Yankees will have the support, and then the likes of CC, A-Rod, Rivera, Cano, etc etc, and I can see them doing well (as usual!). The [b']Astros[/b] could be the surprise package, maybe getting past the first round. And the Rays and Rangers probably won't go very far if I'm honest.

But for the winner, I'm in agreement with you, the Phillies are the best team there is at the moment (IMO), they have great hitting with the likes of Victorino, and of course fantastic pitching with Doc and Lee

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I've got to talk for at least 5 minutes, but I'm stretching it out in order to get a good grade, and I've got s short 3 minute video so mine will probably be about 10-15 minutes long

I've got a powerpoint to stand in front of, little cards for notes and a quiz at the end, and I'm bringing in some equipment to pass around etc, as apparently the exam board likes that

I just need a bit more interesting stuff, some sort of big talking point, like the steroid bans [/quote']

Cool.

The steroid issue is a big talking point. You could mention how some of the notable stars that were breaking records in the late 90s - early 00s were actually no longer in their prime.

For example, Barry Bonds was 36 when he broke the home run record with 73 homers in a season. He had never hit more than 46 in a year before that. Also, he continued to hit 40+ homers until he was 39. Players usually start to slow down when they are 30-32.

Rather, Bonds actually put on muscle as he got older, which is usually the opposite of what happens. When you age, you lose muscle. Take a look at this photo:

I think that's evidence of steroid usage right there.

I think the before and after photos are very telling. Here's some other examples:

Sammy Sosa - Never hit more than 40 in his career. From 1998-2001, he had 3 60+ home run seasons after the age of 30.

Roger Clemens is a good pitching example. Had some of his best seasons from age 39-42 and he was a dominant pitcher before that!

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That's a lot of amazing information, and some great pictures to use as evidence!

I have a slide dedicated to Steroids, picture of Barry Bonds and a question to ask the audience, basic stuff really. Now I should be able to talk about before and after, and what they were hitting and muscle growth and that.

You can see how much bigger Bonds is in the second photo, even though he's older. He must have gained loads of weight, in muscle of course, probably caused by steroids.

Do you mind if I use that info? Only it's really great, and would very useful in my talk

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That's a lot of amazing information, and some great pictures to use as evidence!

I have a slide dedicated to Steroids, picture of Barry Bonds and a question to ask the audience, basic stuff really. Now I should be able to talk about before and after, and what they were hitting and muscle growth and that.

You can see how much bigger Bonds is in the second photo, even though he's older. He must have gained loads of weight, in muscle of course, probably caused by steroids.

Do you mind if I use that info? Only it's really great, and would very useful in my talk [/quote']

Of course you can use it. That's why I wrote it.

You could also talk about some positive baseball history like how some records have not been broken in a long time.

Namely these:

Joe DiMaggio's 56 game hit streak (1941)

Ted Williams last person to bat .400 in a season (again 1941) He batted .406 to be exact.

Cal Ripken's Iron Man record. 2632 consecutive games played. (1998) This one is recent, but the next closest is Lou Gehrig with 2130 games played which ended in 1939. The next closest after that has only 1307!

You could ask the audience why they think these records might stand for so long... after you explain a bit about the sport in general.

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You could also talk about some positive baseball history like how some records have not been broken in a long time.

Namely these:

Joe DiMaggio's 56 game hit streak (1941)

Ted Williams last person to bat .400 in a season (again 1941) He batted .406 to be exact.

Cal Ripken's Iron Man record. 2632 consecutive games played. (1998) This one is recent' date=' but the next closest is Lou Gehrig with 2130 games played which ended in 1939. The next closest after that has only 1307!

You could ask the audience why they think these records might stand for so long... after you explain a bit about the sport in general.[/quote']

Thanks ever so much man

Yeah I can't just go on about the negative points, need some good topics in as well All of them stats should come in handy, maybe on my "Legends" slide which Williams features in, and the others can be highlighted as well, thank you

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Yeah I can't just go on about the negative points' date=' need some good topics in as well All of them stats should come in handy, maybe on my "Legends" slide which Williams features in, and the others can be highlighted as well, thank you [/quote']

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Dude' date=' nice! Very clever of you to mask the recent photo to get the audience reaction. Way to go.[/quote']

Thanks

My biggest fear was that nobody would participate with me, I had loads of things for them to do, a quiz, and many other little questions, like when I asked whether anybody had been to any of the cities mentioned (I put on a list of all the franchises), and I was thinking that nobody would bother helping me out.

Fortunately people seemed interested, and most people answered my questions, and took part in the quiz

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Yankees- Rays is on at the moment, and it's looking to be a good game, 6-5 to the Yankees after the 3rd innings. Longoria homered in the third to bring the Rays back within one run, after Pena hit a grand slam for the Yankees.